


Just the Way It Is

by zeldadestry



Category: Entourage
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 13:16:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7053280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeldadestry/pseuds/zeldadestry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More than anything else, Ari is a salesman.  But, even when he should know better, Vin wants to believe his pitch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just the Way It Is

Facing an afternoon of interviews, he pulls Shauna aside in the lobby of the hotel before he heads upstairs to the suite where the press junket will be held. 

“Hey, can you do something to make sure they don’t ask me the “family” question? I’m sick of that shit.”

“Aw, poor baby.” Shauna pats his cheek. “You think you’ve got it so bad, try being a woman in this business.”

“I know, I know.” He draws her hand away from his face and kisses her knuckles. “Seriously, though- help me out here.”

“Alright, alright, don't worry about it.” 

“Thank you.” 

 

He hugs her, afterwards. 

“That wasn’t so bad, now was it?” she says, her voice low.

He shakes his head.

“So- tell me- just me, Vince. Try to answer the question that scares you so damn much.” 

He looks her in the eye but offers nothing more than a shrug.

“You don’t know yet, what you want?”

“Something like that.” He takes his phone out of his pocket. “I- uh, I said I’d call E, soon as we finished.”

Shauna squeezes his upper arm. “You did great today. Enjoy your night.”

 

“What do you do?” Vince asks, flopping down in the corner of Ari’s couch and stretching his legs out across the length of its white leather.

“Are you serious with that shit?” Ari says, from behind his desk, glancing at Vince before returning his attention to his computer screen. “At least take off your fucking shoes.”

“No sale, Ari. We both know my comfort’s worth a lot more to you than whatever the agency paid for your interior design.”

Ari pauses in typing to flip him off and Vince laughs at him. A minute later, Ari pushes away the keyboard and looks at Vince. “You ok?”

Vince stretches, smiles. “I’m great.”

“Yeah? Where’s E?”

“Meeting with Billy Walsh.”

Ari groans. “That asshole?”

“He’s a lot different when he's sober.”

“Aren’t we all.” Ari gets up from his desk and walks around it, so he can get closer to Vince. “You stop by, you’re by yourself, you tell me it’s not about business. Don’t tell me you got me worried for nothing.”

“Good to know you care.” 

“So what’s going on?”

“What do you do?”

“What?”

“When you- how do you negotiate when you don’t want something and, the other person, they do.”

Ari crosses his arms and frowns. “Vince- asking for help’s the hardest part. You already did that. Make it easier for me to help you. Tell me what the problem is.”

Vince pushes himself back up to a seated position, gets both his feet flat on the floor, and looks down at his hands, resting over his knees. “I don’t want to be a father.”

“Is someone pregnant?” Vince shakes his head. “So what’s the problem?”

“I don’t know how to tell Eric.”

“I've seen the two of you together, I know you drive the car-”

“Hardly ever.”

“Metaphorically speaking, Vince. You’re the one driving this and he’s along for the ride. And when you’re the driver, you don’t really need to worry much about negotiation. So, you just tell him how it’s gonna be.” 

“You think that works?”

Ari winces. “I know the only way I listen is when the Mrs. gives me an ultimatum, yeah.”

“Seems- I dunno. I don’t think I’m that guy. I thought- don’t people always say relationships are supposed to be about compromise and shit?"

“Vinny, listen to me. You know that, whatever my flaws, and we both know there are many, I love my wife, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, you do.”

“And I love my kids, Vin, so much. They’re the best part of me and I know that. I know it. And she wanted kids, we both did. But if she hadn’t- I think I still would’ve married her. I don’t think I would’ve done anything differently.”

“Saying you think is very different than saying you know, Ari.”

“You know what else I think? I may not be Eric, I’m taller, for one thing, and smarter, for another-”

“No, Ari, you only went to fancier schools than he did, and we both know that doesn’t mean shit.”

“You got me there. Met as many idiots at Harvard as I did anywhere else.” Ari sits down on the couch. “Hey, listen, I give Murphy a lot of shit, and he probably deserves most of it, but I know he’s not as stupid as he looks. He’s not getting another piece of prime ass like yours in a million years, and he knows it. He ain’t ever giving you up. I don’t think anyone in this whole damn city is as dickmatized as he is.”

“Yeah, thanks, Ari. Nice to know you’re a believer in the hypnotic power of my magic cock.”

Ari laughs and claps his hands together. “Ok, so maybe I didn’t put it right. Look, I’ve seen you two assholes together. You’re sickening, both of you. Seriously disgusting. No fuckin leprechaun ought to be living the dream with a movie star but, hey, here we all are. And if someone made me bet on this? I’d wager happily ever after for both of you, together.” Ari punches Vince in the arm. “Boom. Now do you feel better?”

“That's gonna bruise, you fuckin sadist.”

“Suck it up, tough guy.” 

More than anything else, Ari is a salesman. But, even when he should know better, Vin wants to believe his pitch. “Thanks, Ari.” 

“Anytime.” Vince is about to step out of the office when Ari speaks again. “Hey, Vinny?”

“Yeah?”

“Do something about your fuckin salt and pepper hair, will you?” 

 

The morning sun streams through their bedroom windows and Vince bends close to the mirror, lifting up one section of his hair at a time to note how many grays he finds. 

“What are you doing?” Eric mutters. 

Vince sheds his worried slump in an instant, stands tall and turns to Eric with a 'aint it a beautiful fuckin morning' grin across his face. “Hey, sorry, did I wake you?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Eric says, but burrows deeper beneath the covers. 

“Still tired?” 

“Yeah.”

“So go back to sleep.”

“Gonna try. What about you?”

Vince recognizes the invitation and slips back into bed. Eric moves towards him until their legs brush. They’re both lying on their sides, facing each other, but Vince can’t meet his gaze. “Close your eyes, E. Go back to sleep.” 

“Hey.” Eric takes hold of Vince’s chin. “What were you doing?” 

“Nothing.”

“Vin- don’t make me ask again.”

“That a threat?”

Eric kisses the side of his mouth. “Maybe.” Vince closes his eyes and taps the opposite corner of his mouth. Eric laughs and kisses it, too. 

For a moment, there’s silence, and Vince sinks into it, lets himself feel nothing but the heat of Eric’s body beside his own. When Eric takes an audible inhale, like he’s preparing to speak, Vince tries to cut him off. “Seriously, I’m good.” 

“Seriously?” Eric echoes, and Vince hears the worry in his voice. “I know you better than that. Just tell me.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Vin-”

“I’m getting- I’ve got gray hairs.”

“No way.”

“Yeah.” Vince tucks his chin to his chest, points at the crown of his head. “Here.”

Eric scratches his fingers back and forth over the spot. “I didn’t know you paid attention to shit like that.”

“I don’t, not really. But Ari said something the other day.”

“Fuck Ari.” Vince cracks his eyes open. “Everybody gets older, even in Hollywood.”

“Yeah. But we both live in this town, you know what I mean? I’m a product. And I’m-” He swallows.

“What?”

“Not ready to be replaced.” He reaches out and pushes Eric’s hair off his forehead. “I don’t wanna be replaced.”

“I don’t- Vin, what are we talking about here?”

“I’m happy, you know? With my life.” 

“You're not exactly selling that right now.”

“Right, because, it’s not just my life. It’s yours, too.”

“Ok.”

He can't say this if Eric’s touching him, he can’t say it if they’re this close together, and so he rolls away to the other side of the bed and lies on his back. He looks down his own body, at his chest, his belly, his crotch, and feels like some kind of traitor. “I don't want to be a father. I don’t- I’m sorry, E. I want you to be happy, I do, but I just- I can’t see myself having kids, raising kids. I don’t think it’s what I want.” Eric doesn’t answer and Vince closes his eyes, counts each heartbeat he can feel pounding against his ribs. 

“I know,” Eric finally says, and he sounds so- calm - but Vince has no idea what that means. “I mean- I kinda figured, because you never said anything. If you had wanted- I thought you woulda told me.”

“But it’s what you want, isn’t it? And, if you can’t have it with me, I still want you to have it. So maybe it’s better if we stop.”

“Stop? Are you fuckin kidding me? Do you even know what the hell you’re saying right now? Yeah, my life, in some ways it’s different than I ever thought it would be. But I’m not sorry. I’m definitely not sorry.” Vince opens his eyes again and Eric holds out a hand. “Get back here, you idiot,” he says, and Vince returns to his side. “It’s more than just my life or your life, right? It’s our life, together. Tell me you understand that.”

“Yeah, E, I do.” Eric runs his fingers through Vince’s hair. “So what do you think I should do? Should I dye it?”

“Leave it alone.”

“Yeah.” Vince traces the curve of Eric’s ear with the tip of his nose and grins when Eric shivers in his arms. “I knew you’d say that.”


End file.
